Nine to Noon

Every weekday, Kathryn Ryan canvases breaking news, backgrounds social and economic issues, and discusses lifestyle trends, with the help of newsmakers, correspondents, and experts in every imaginable field from writers and reviewers to ordinary New Zealanders.

Every weekday, Kathryn Ryan canvases breaking news, backgrounds social and economic issues, and discusses lifestyle trends, with the help of newsmakers, correspondents, and experts in every imaginable field from writers and reviewers to ordinary New Zealanders.

Every weekday, Kathryn Ryan canvases breaking news, backgrounds social and economic issues, and discusses lifestyle trends, with the help of newsmakers, correspondents, and experts in every imaginable field from writers and reviewers to ordinary New Zealanders.

It's the final countdown to the Rugby World Cup, a look ahead to the Australian netball championship final this weekend and the USA men's basketball team has been knocked out of the World Basketball Championship.

Sometimes you really do have to climb every mountain. New Zealand adventurer, mountain runner and mental health advocate Mal Law is no stranger to taking on extreme challenges in order to fundraise for charities.

As the country's measles outbreak continues, parents and GP practices are expressing frustration as stock runs out and vaccinations have to be cancelled. The outbreak is acute in Auckland, where 1007 of the 11-hundred and 72 cases of the disease have been reported. Vaccines have been shipped to Auckland to cover a shortfall, but that's left many practices without stock.

Film and TV reviewer Sarah McMullan joins Kathryn to talk about the controversy over Married at First Sight, has it failed in its duty of care? The Block Firehouse finished its season with one winner and a whole lot of losers - but applications are open for the next season. And Falling Inn Love is the new Netflix New Zealand movie - here's what it got right.

Technology commentator Tony Grasso joins Kathryn to talk about the passive listening going on with Amazon Echo and Siri - and sometimes a team of humans. He'll also look at how nanny cams can be hacked and how you can secure your device at home or work. Tony Grasso is director of technology at cyber security consultants Cyber Toa.

Laura Caygill reviews My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, published by Allen & Unwin. A delightfully macabre first novel exploring sisterhood, beauty and murderous intent in Nigeria's most populous city. Longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.

In his book, The Maths of Life and Death - Why maths is almost everything, mathematical biologist Kit Yates explains how maths underpins everything we do. He presents seven hidden mathematical rules in seven chapters exploring life-changing events where the application, or misapplication of maths played a crucial role. Kit says the book is for people "who've ever been made to feel that maths is too hard, or that you can't appreciate its everyday beauty without reading equations or knowing...

UK correspondent Matt Dathan joins Kathryn to look at what the government's no-deal Brexit preparations - Operation Yellowhammer - will involve. He'll also report on the ruling by Scotland's highest civil court that Boris Johnson's government's decision to prorogue Parliament was really an attempt to "stymy" scrutiny of his Brexit policy. Meanwhile Labour is in just as big a mess as the Tories over their Brexit policy, with deputy leader Tom Watson emerging with a different policy to leader...

Political adverts have seeped into Kiwi culture and become part of daily life for generations. Who can forget the Dancing Cossacks, Kiwi/Iwi and the rowing ad that drew the National Party into a legal dispute with rap star Eminem. But how are these ads created and how effective are they? Massey's Professor of Communication Design Claire Robinson has just published a book trying to find all of that out. Promises, Promises: 80 Years of Wooing Kiwi Voters starts with the political party ads of...

More than one in 14 workers in New Zealand is holding down two or more jobs, according to new figures. Those moonlighting in the gig economy tend to be middle-aged, female or living in a house with dependent children. The figures are from the Household Labour Force Survey for the June quarter, showing 7.3 per cent or 195,400 of all employed people held two or more jobs in the previous week. Scott Ussher, Stats New Zealand's labour market statistics manager and Professor Elizabeth George from...

Science correspondent Siouxsie Wiles looks at how an improved supercooling method could extend the life of donated organs by a day, the genetic mutation that makes people feel rested on just six hours sleep and how Toxoplasma gondii is a successful parasite that infects nearly a third of humans - now researchers have figured out how the parasite knows it's in a cat and not another mammal so it can perpetuate its life cycle.

America's Spanish roots with historian Carrie Gibson. Her book, El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present.